A WHITE Hills man has been jailed for 18 months for possessing and producing child pornography detectives have described as the worst they had ever seen.
Brett Pettersen, 28, pleaded guilty to possessing a collection of more than 1,100 videos and images of child pornography, with the majority depicting children aged under 10.
He was given an 18-month jail sentence with a nine month non-parole period.
The charge of producing child pornography related to Pettersen making a copy of nude pictures of a 14-year-old Bendigo girl and her school friends that he stole from a computer he was fixing while working as an IT technician.
Detectives uncovered the files on Pettersen's computer when they executed a raid in August 2012 on his parents White Hills home, where he lives.
In her sentencing Judge Wendy Wilmoth said the offending deserved a penalty that reflected the seriousness of the crime.
Ms Wilmoth said she was able to apply some leniency because of Pettersen's lack of prior history and her belief that he had no "paedophilic tendencies".
"There is a need for general deterrence that is to send a clear message to others who might be tempted to offend in the same way," she said.
Pettersen was ordered to a total effective sentence of 18 months imprisonment and he will be listed on the sex offender registry for 15 years.
Read more in tomorrow's Bendigo Advertiser.